


The Prince Who Reached Too Far

by MelodyDrake



Category: Haikyu
Genre: Alternate Universe - Crack, Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid Fusion, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 06:43:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15189065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodyDrake/pseuds/MelodyDrake
Summary: Okay, this all came about because yesterday I listened to Koushi Sugawara's seiyuu sing Under The Sea and my brain ran away with it. After placing everyone in their correct roles, Oikawa grabbed me and insisted that he was NOT going to settle for having 'that hag's backstory'. So this is what I came up with instead. I may or may not keep going with it, we'll see if my motivation dries up or not.





	The Prince Who Reached Too Far

Long before our story begins, Oikawa was the Prince of a small parcel of land, a Lord really. He was....adequate at ruling, a little too much time dallying about for the likes of some but he fulfilled his duties and those closest to him swore by his earnest attitude when you could get him to focus. Now, as he saw it, his little kingdom was perfect except for one thing. It needed a port. Kitagawa's wares were much sought after across the sea, but being landlocked, they lost almost half their profit to fees and taxes for the right to use foreign ports. Luckily for him, the kingdom just north of him had one of the best ports in leagues. Unluckily for him, it was also one of the best fortified kingdoms, fierce in battle with a Prince Heir that was said to lead every charge and had never been defeated. Oikawa was many things, but a warrior born was not one of them, far more a strategist than a physical powerhouse. Turning the problem over in his mind, he came to a grim decision. He must learn the dark arts, it was the only way they would have a chance against the bigger kingdom.

Now, about the time he came to this idea, the son of one of his retainers began catching his eye. The lad was smart and had good instincts, even if he was a bit lacking in formal graces. The boy was eager to learn anything Oikawa would deem teach him, like a dry sponge suddenly thrust into the ocean and, if the Prince was honest, the fact that the boy looked at him with naked admiration anytime they were in the same room didn't hurt. He began instructing the boy in some of the lesser duties of court, making him a personal messenger so he could gain a good grasp of who was who in court, while also dealing with some of the more bothersome tasks Oikawa didn't have time for if he was going to be able to master magic and usher his people into a new Golden Age. Slowly, he needed more and more of his inner circle for his planning, which left more and more in the young man's hands to manage. Oikawa wasn't worried, the lad could handle it.

However, the more he studied, the more he listened to the dark whispers of the night, learned fell secrets not meant for mortal mind, the less he trusted anyone outside of his Chosen Few. And the top of the list of those to be eyed with suspicion was the man now effectively running much of his kingdom. He had been careful to not let the then boy be privy to what he was up to, first because of the simple fact that it's much easier to lie to a foreign dignitaries if you didn't KNOW you were lying, but more and more it was rampant paranoia that kept his activities shrouded in darkness.

Where once he would have looked on in pride as the awkward but blossomed into a capable leader, now only jealousy, suspicion and a black rage grew until one day, he snapped.

It had been a small thing, years later he couldn't even bring to mind what exactly had thrown his rage over the edge, only that one moment he had been stewing in jealousy, the next he was throwing open the darkest book he had acquired, pouring over the worst curses he could find. Though it was tempting, he did not decide on a killing curse, his very closest and oldest confidante had managed to save at least that much of his soul. The curse he did level on the unsuspecting man in his sleep was still a terrible thing to behold, a curse designed to be unbreakable, to remain 'cold and mysterious as the moon until the sun itself touches the deepest trench of your soul'

The effect was immediate and noticeable to all, much to Oikawa's warped delight. Where before any misunderstandings were easily with his air of innocent earnestness, now his distant demeanor cooled relationships with several courtiers he'd been trying to cultivate. He was still as good at getting things done as before, but where before it had been done with a wish to make sure no one was overloaded, now he worked with a brutal efficiency, and had few kind words that failed to measure up to his increasingly high standards.

Now certain his biggest rival was effectively mired in his position and no higher, Oikawa threw.all of his energy into the last phases of his plan, raising an army and moving out to tear down the northern kingdom brick by brick if that's what it took.

But not before he rechristened his kingdom. No longer was it lowly Kitagawa. No, from this day forth, he declared it would be named Aoba Johsai, or 'Blue Castle' in the ancient tongue, for he swore to erect a castle next to the ocean and the port that he would claim for his people's prosperity and for his own glory.

The next few months were a haze of war and blood. With the dark magic he had acquired, he moved the commoners to his side and crushed the nobles who should against his army. With his Chosen Few, he charged like a man possessed towards the northern kingdom's capital, situated right up against the sea. It felt like nothing could stop him, all the way until everything went wrong.

Oikawa was furious, what in the nine hells was going on?! They had been making progress just as he had planned, down to the minute, but suddenly, unimaginably, the front of his army had just STOPPED. Being in the back of the army with his court, it had taken an hour first for the front's stop to radiate to the back, then another hour and a half for them to get their horses ready and travel as swiftly as they could to see what the hold up was. The delay was already making the Prince irritated, but when he and his court crested the last hill, irritation bloomed into first confusion, then a swift-running rage.

The reports he had meticulously gathered and read and reread, the cause of the enemies of the northern kingdom's defeat had always been given to their overwhelming might. Now Oikawa saw that that wasn't quite true, and it made his blood boil. His troops had stopped cold, a look of pure terror on their faces as they stared out out....a completely empty field. No army came to face them, no one at all.

Well, that wasn't ENTIRELY true. There were a few people, standing on the hill across from them, and with eyes that knew how to see, Oikawa pinned the terror as coming from just two of them. The Prince Heir seemed to radiate power and confidence in victory. That aura was capitalized on and enforced and magnified a hundred, hundred times by the man to his right, a tall skinny scarecrow of a man who's bright red hair was almost more distracting than the long arms he held up, obviously working some kind of magic.

That CRETIN! That ignoramus! That...That CHEAT!! He hadn't even bothered to learn the magic HIMSELF, he just found someone ELSE to do it! This would not, COULD not stand, Oikawa had spent far too much of things far too valuable to let his opponent just...PLAY with him and his army like this. He quickly called his court together, drawing strength from each to cast the magic he wanted to.. first, he threw up a shield to snap his men out of whatever terror trance the other side was inducing. It didn't go the whole length of the army, but if things were as he believed, the whole army wouldn't be necessary. Then, as close to simultaneously as he could manage, he threw his own trance out, more to feel out the other side than to actually hit anyone. It bounced harmlessly off of the shield the other had erected, as did a bolt of force he sent out after it. Slowly, his army began to move forward, as unaware of the duel as a newborn babe.

His court, however, was by no means idle, counteracting typhoon level winds on one side, while the other conjured and tended a ball of flame before tossing it up to Oikawa, who added his own power along with a dark enchantment before sending it sailing across the way. It broke through the shield, but before he had a chance to rejoice, the man on the Prince's left stepped forward, gleaming in armor and a holy energy, lifting his shield and knocking the blast away. A warlock AND a Paladin? Did this asshole intend to do none of the fighting himself?!

Oikawa was done. BEYOND done. They wanted to act like they weren't worth even a half dozen men? Fine. He would show them what fools they were to underestimate HIM! He reached out and gripped the robes of his court, pulling a massive amount of energy from each of them, as much as he could without having them drop and give away the level of the spell he was about to cast. Nervous glances were all they gave him as he began to chant under his breath.

"Thee I see across the way  
Bold and bright, you make us pay  
The ocean's blessing, thou kept from us  
So be thee fish, til life's last dusk!"

He called, gaining more volume as he finishes, watching the curse rush down the hill with a rare kind of thrill, eyes only widening as he saw it collide with a curse from the other side. In a grating, sing-song tune, he heard the other warlock's curse in his mind,

"You bring an army into our land  
Tear corn from field, life from hand  
To break your hearts shall cause me delight  
So take wing, you pests, and no more alight!"

Oikawa's eyes widened as he did his best to push the curse back, to take control of this reverse tug-of-war. He couldn't let that curse hit. If it did, he'd never set foot on the ground again. With the amount of joyous malice laced into that voice, he didn't doubt for a second that that maniac meant to kill him and his with it.

He poured himself out into the curse, the sole thought in his mind stopping the oncoming curse, no matter what.

He did, but not quite as he hoped, he realized as the energy stored between the opposing forces reached its limit. Neither could break through, but the law of the curse meant that it couldn't just DISAPPEAR either. The curses bounced back directly at those who had cast them, and the energy mixed there in. The last thing Oikawa remembered before blacking out was being thrown into the sky, desperately holding onto his now unconscious court's robes, and the frantic, almost insane thought that the ocean looked lovely from up here.

\------

The man he had left in charge of his land in his absence found out about the outcome from a very confused messenger who came as fast as his legs could carry him. The battle was at an uneasy stalemate, for somehow both sides' Princes and their courts had disappeared...and no one could remember precisely how.

Acting with his now characteristic gruffness and efficiency, he rode out with all haste to the northern kingdom's capital, took things and hand and, in a matter of weeks, caused the surrender of the kingdom's crown jewel, it's capital and, most importantly, it's port, though at the expense of his own men's lives. Being the closest thing that was left to lead either kingdom, he quickly combined the two, named himself Prince Regent until the Prince should return, and named the combined kingdom Aoba Johsai after what his Prince had declared. He then set to the task of making the kingdom profitable, though there was some complaint about the new taxes and longer work days, every citizen had to admit be instituted nothing he was not willing to work under or do himself. He just seemed to have an almost unholy about of stamina.

\------

Oikawa awoke in a panic, and then horror as he realized the bottom half of his body had transformed into that of a squid or octopus. He quickly worked the spell to stop the transformation, but the damage was done...he was stuck as some kind of half human, a half octopus monster. He found his court screaming as best they could in fear. He was too late to save any of their humanity but their minds and their voices. Still, true to their loyalty, they stayed with him, and he swore he would devote his all to finding a way to reverse what he had unwittingly done, no matter the cost, and exact revenge upon those who had thrust this upon him in his mind. If they were still alive. He got a not inconsiderable amount of enjoyment over the idea that karma had so quickly found its mark with those three. After all, the curse had said 'take flight' and if the curse gave them wings, or turned them into birds, their arms would logically be the things that transformed, leaving the warlock unable to conjure anything.

Oikawa and his court found an unoccupied cave to set up shop in, his court swimming out daily for food and to bring back what news they could. When he found out his former apprentice had taken everything HE had worked for as his own, it wasn't pretty. The list grew. If he couldn't exact vengeance himself on the Prince, he would take it out on this pretender. Somehow. He just had to wait for the right opportunity...


End file.
